Dirty Tactics
by TalksToSelf
Summary: ONESHOT My take on the ending for episode 26, how it should have happened. Haruhi uses the dirtiest tactic a girl can, while in an airport dash for Tamaki... tears.


A/n: Set after watching 'This is OUR Ouran Festival' for the twenty billionth time. My version of how Haruhi should've got Tamaki back.

Her breath caught.  
"Hikaru!" Kaoru said, leaping from the carriage to tend to his brother, who had seemingly twisted his arm. He sat up dazedly, but Haruhi couldn't focus, one thing running through her clouded mind… Tamaki.  
"Is it really going to end like this my lord?" Begged Hikaru desperately. Safe in the knowledge Hikaru was fine she turned and grabbed the reigns of the horse carriage.  
"I WON'T COME BACK WITHOUT HIM!" She promised, and with that she sped off, her long dress billowed, and logic said she should probably take it off, but her brain wasn't working so well right now. Taking the bypass through the hills as the twins stared off after her. The wind bit at her cheeks, and blew the fake wig right off her head. She ignored it and kept going, knowing her pace was unreasonable, she could very well crash and die. In the distance she could see a red sports car, open topped, with a beautiful girl, and an equally beautiful boy in the back seat. If she had wanted to, she could've caught up with them, but driving on a bridge that close to a sports car in a horse operated vehicle she didn't know how to operate? It was suicide. So she followed at a safe distance, making sure they were unaware of her presence.

What would she say when she did catch up? What COULD she say? 'Please don't go' sounded good, but if asked why what was she supposed to say 'Everyone keeps telling me I'm jealous of Eclair, and maybe I am so I'd like you to stick around while I sort out my feelings?' that was just stupid. The car ahead pulled into the carpark of the airport. Haruhi bit her lip, here goes nothing.  
"Wait… how do I stop this thing?" She wondered aloud. "Woah!" The carriage turned over and she leapt from it as the horses came to a stop. "Ouch!" She winced, rubbing her ankle. She had landed on it so sharply… it hurt. But she didn't have time for that, she patted the horses, to calm them and then limped into the airport. She scanned hurriedly for the blond bishonen, but couldn't see him. Her eyes teared desperately… it could not end like this. "Excuse me, the flight to France. Which gate?" She asked an attendant.  
"Miss are you sure you don't need medical attention?" She gasped. Haruhi was not unaware of how messed up the wind had made her hair, she was vaguely aware her ankle was bleeding profusely through the awful cosplay dress the host club had forced her to wear, and she was completely unaware that she looked like a mad woman on the edge.  
"DAMNIT JUST TELL ME WHAT GATE!" She demanded, aware people were staring at her.  
"37 Miss but…" Haruhi heard no more, she looked up to see she was at gate 3... Oh dear. When did the plane leave? Would she make it? Hoisting her dress up she ran, praying her injured ankle wouldn't give out, desperately breathing.

As each gate sped past in a blur her thoughts became more and more frantic  
Gate 12: 'What if I don't make it?'  
Gate 15: 'What can I say?'  
Gate 22: 'Was I jealous of Eclair?'  
Gate 30: 'Why?'  
31... Not much time left… 32 Would the host club forgive her if she returned solo?… 33... Would he be happy in France? He'd look terrible in a beret… 34... What with that beautiful hair of his… 35... Why did this dress have to be so poofy! It was tripping her up! 36... Eclair was beautiful, why would Tamaki choose plain old Haruhi over the busty French maiden? 37.

"SENPAI!" She breathed, clutching onto the handrail, as a blond head disappeared beyond the gate.  
"How tragic." A cold female voice said. "You missed him… better luck next time Fujioka." Eclair's icy eyes stared into Haruhi. Eclair then swept through, as elegant as the duchess she was. Haruhi stared at her bloodied ankle, suddenly realising (her breathing was ragged), she wondered how she'd run so far on it.  
"I won't give up!" Haruhi growled, forcing herself onward. A security guard made a grab for her as she forced her way through the gate, she ducked sliding through his grasp. "I won't!" She whispered to herself. Her body felt like a feather being pummelled by the wind, she wasn't conscious of her actions as she ran out onto the runway. An auburn haired beauty clung to the blond.

"SENPAI!" Haruhi cried. "TAMAKI!" Tamaki turned, his blue eyes locking with her brown ones.  
"Miss you can't come through the gate without a ticket!" A guard said grabbing hold of her. Eclair pulled his hand toward the plane.  
"SENPAI YOU IDIOT!" Haruhi screamed. "YOU CAN'T LEAVE!" She struggled against the guards grasp, while he looked in shock. He remembered Kyoya being smacked… how Haruhi wanted to become a lawyer.  
"Go home Haruhi…" He said eventually casting his gaze away. "You'll all be better off without the host club."  
"HOW CAN YOU THINK THAT?!" Haruhi screeched, her voice sore. "WE ALL LOVE THE HOST CLUB! I LOVE THE HOST CLUB!"  
"You're not even a host anymore." Snapped Eclair. "Your debt was repaid Kyoya let you go."  
"I will stay a host as long as there is a club to host!" The guard was trying to force handcuffs onto her thin wrists, she wriggled. "Tamaki please. I'm begging you!" But it wasn't only her. The host club… the whole host club suffered with him there. Suffered because of his selfishness.  
"Go home." He whispered again and began to follow Eclair.

Haruhi was not done yet. She bit the hand that held her, kicked him between his legs, and freed herself from the burly arms of the officer. She ran after Tamaki and ran in front of him.  
"If you leave I will NOT forgive you Senpai!" She glowered. "Neither will Hikaru, Kaoru, Honey, Mori or Kyoya!"  
"H…Haruhi they're better without my selfishness!" He said grabbing her shoulder. She smacked his hand away from her.  
"Don't touch me moron!" She hissed. "IF YOU LEAVE WE'RE ALL ON OUR OWN ALL OVER AGAIN! YOU THINK I CAN FACE THAT SCHOOL AS THE STUDIOUS BOOKWORM I WAS WHEN YOU FIRST MET ME!" Her voice was hysterical, her hair seemed to stand on end with rage. "IF YOU LEAVE, I QUIT OURAN FOR GOOD! I DON'T BECOME A LAWYER. MY COMMON-LIFESTYLE LEADS ME INTO POVERTY AND ME AND MY FATHER STARVE TO DEATH! AND ON OUR GRAVESTONES IT WILL SAY TAMAKI-SENPAI YOU IDIOT YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT'" this sounds like something Tamaki's inner mind theatre would devise. Haruhi was well aware of how insane she must look. People were staring at her. Tamaki just blinked. Eclair gripped his arm.  
"Come… we have a plane to board."  
"Y… Yes…" Tamaki whispered.  
"Wait!" Haruhi begged, grabbing his other arm. "I have one last appeal!" He stared at her with soft blue eyes, obviously full of pain. She was torturing him and she knew it. "The only thing I know how to do."

And then Haruhi did the most below-the-belt, underhand, low down, no good, dirty, rotten tactic a girl can do to a guy. She started to cry. Tears formed at the corner of her eyes, brimming in her chocolate irises, and spilled over her cheeks as she refused to break eye contact with her elder. To talk about being pulled in two directions is easy to do… however as the sun was setting on the runway, Tamaki found a girl on each arm, one urging him to go to France, one begging him to stay in Japan. He glanced from the tomboyish brunette in tears, to the temper-prone French vixen. Then Haruhi did the unthinkable. She let go of his hand.  
"I'm sorry Senpai… I guess we never… I never… meant as much to you as I thought. Please… enjoy your life in France." She whispered, then turned away. He immediately went to follow her, but Eclair tightened her grip. Kyoya stepped over the whimpering security guard that Haruhi had done in. The twins hurried over, Honey gripped Mori's coat-tails.  
"Your leg!" Gasped Kaoru, staring at Haruhi's blood-soaked dress.  
"Lord!" Begged Hikaru.  
"Leave it… we're always so quick to accuse him of being selfish. Yet… we're the ones trying to stop him going to his homeland… to his mother." Haruhi's voice was soft and chilling. Tamaki wrenched his hand from his fiancée's grip.  
"Tamaki." She breathed, but she knew at that moment she'd lost him. Eclair silently boarded the plane alone.

Tamaki grabbed Haruhi around her waist and swept her up, holding her close. The skirt of her dress whipped with the wind. She held onto him as though her life depended on it, her arms lacing around his neck.  
"Y'know… the airport might press charges…" Kyoya said staring at the beaten guard. However, that was the last thing Haruhi heard before she lost consciousness.

--------------------------------

She sat bolt upright in Ouran's sick bay.  
"Tamaki!" She said straight away.  
"Yo!" Tamaki grinned. He sat beside her on her left. Beside him was his father, Kyoya's father, Kyoya, Honey, Mori, Hikaru, Kaoru, and Haruhi's real father, Ranka. (his Okama name)  
"OH MY LITTLE GIRL IS AWAKE!" He cheered hugging her tightly. "I heard all about your brave little escapade from the wonderful Hitachiin brothers!" Haruhi seemed completely unfazed by her father's glomp-ing, and peeked at Tamaki.  
"So you're staying in Japan?"  
"Yes." Haruhi smiled lightly then glanced at Hikaru.  
"Your arm!" She asked suddenly.  
"Is fine, a small scrape." He shrugged, showing her his arm with a definite pride as though saying 'I can fall from the carriage fine'. She looked relieved as her father finally let go.  
"And you missy! Running half way across Japan on a broken ankle!" He scolded. "For this boy? I have no faith in your taste in men!" Ranka wagged his finger at Haruhi.  
"Broken?" Haruhi gasped. She pulled back her bed covered to reveal her leg had been placed into a cast. Colourful writing and pictures of various coloured roses adorned it… she made a mental note not to let the host club near sharpies again.  
"Yes, the ankle is fractured in two places, it's a miracle you were able to walk at all." Kyoya's father said, pushing his glasses up on his nose. "Much less run the way Tamaki claims you did."

"I guess when someone's super-worried, they can use super human strength and stuff." Honey said cheerfully.  
"Oh, the festival!" Haruhi said. "You shouldn't be up here with me, you're needed downstairs and…"  
"Haruhi… as hosts it is our duty to make women happy." Kyoya said with a smile.  
"You're a woman are you not." Hikaru said, bowing at her.  
"So it's our duty." Kaoru said.  
"To make sure you're comfy!" Honey piped in.  
"Ah." Contributed Mori.  
"And get plenty of rest!" Urged Tamaki. Haruhi blushed.  
"Thank you for stopping my son making the same mistake I made." Tamaki's father bowed.  
"Your son!? So YOU'RE the reason for this monstrosity that broke my baby's ankle!" Ranka fumed. The elder Suoh face faulted.  
"I believe she broke her own ankle." Interjected Kyoya. "Jumping from a horse-drawn carriage."  
"THAT TAMAKI SHIPPED IN FROM FRANCE!" The twins tattled. Honey clocked both of their heads together.  
"Tama-chan has had a hard day, the last thing he needs is Haruhi's papa beating him up." he warned in a serious tone. Then his face went cheerful again. "How are you feeling Haru-chan?" He grinned at her.  
"My throat's a little sore from shouting at a certain moronic king." She shot Tamaki a playful glare. "But I'm happy." She yawned and lay her head on Tamaki's shoulder, causing him to turn scarlet. Ranka loaded a gun

"New club rule… No leaving the country without club permission." She murmured.  
"Or getting engaged," Hikaru and Kaoru chanted.  
"Or putting me in frilly dresses!" Haruhi added. A high powered motor roared into action.  
"And so ends the Ouran Festival, not in the usual dazzling display of fireworks but in a romantic yet cliche airport dash between two males, admittedly one in a female cosplay, Renge could eat three bowls of rice of this!" Renge cheered. Everyone stared at her.  
"Who are you?" Ranka asked. "And where did you come from?"  
"Well, generally children come from their parents." like father like son. Tamaki's dad came up with the obvious answer.  
"Ohohohohoho." She cackled.  
"Senpai. I have a question." Haruhi said. "Would you have been happier in France?" Everyone drew their eyes from Renge and instead looked at the scene unfolding before their eyes.  
"No." He said simply. "My life is here." He leaned down and kissed her. Honey and Mori held Ranka back as the two continued to kiss softly and sweetly. Kaoru and Hikaru tended to Renge in the next bed (who had suffered a MORE-OVERLOAD heart attack seeing yaoi kissing!). Haruhi's hand placed to Tamaki's chest and pushed him away enough to break the kiss, but they kept their noises together and their eyes locked, a smile playing on each of their faces.

"It's a shame, I was going to ask her to become your bride." Kyoya's father said, musing.  
"I accept!" Ranka cheered, obviously having liked Kyoya better.  
"I reject!" Haruhi, Tamaki and Kyoya said together.  
"It can't be helped." The eldest Ootori shrugged.  
"One last question?" Haruhi asked.  
"Sure." Tamaki said simply. Haruhi glared.  
"Why am I still in this ridiculous dress?" Everyone sweat dropped.

A/n: Aww. See. Better ending. Yes?  
Or at least... more cliche'd.


End file.
